Yemen has undergone a brutal civil war officially beginning in 2015. The war has furthered Yemen's underdevelopment and ultimately turned it into a failed state from dilapidated infrastructure, insufficient healthcare, food and water insecurity, and an unstable government and economy. The Yemen Civil war began because of marginalization of a religious minority, the government's failure to provide economic opportunity for citizens and exploiting certain areas for its own gain, and a lack of representation of religious and regional groups. To resolve the war for the long-term future, there must be inclusive peacebuilding and assistance from the United Nations to facilitate peace conversations. To begin the first steps of state-building, Yemen must establish a decentralized government, strengthen the role of local governance, and forgo economic diversification.
Following the Arab Spring, where numerous Arab nations were demanding to overthrow dictators, Yemen fought for change too. President Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced to transition his position to Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, but this transition failed. There was massive unemployment, food insecurity, suicide bombings, and a separatist movement in South Yemen. In 2014, the Houthi Shia rebel group, a religious minority, took hold of northern Yemen's capital, Sana'a. Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia, asking for international intervention. Saudi Arabia then created a coalition of Gulf countries implementing air strikes in order for the Houthi rebels to restore Hadi's rule. Saudi Arabia accused the Houthis of having links with Iran, which led to the involvement of regional powers as well as international powers in this war. The Saudi-led coalition was supported with U.S. intelligence, and the U.S., U.K., and several other European countries have sold arms to Saudi Arabia that were used to further the war in Yemen. As the war has gone on, Saudi Arabia and Iran have furthered the Sunni-Shia divide in Yemen. Parts of Yemen are now controlled by the Houthis, Republic of Yemen, Saudi-backed Hadi forces, Al-Qaeda, and the U.A.E.-backed Southern Transition Council.
The core of this issue stems from history. When North and South Yemen unified in 1990, the capital was declared in Sana'a in northern Yemen. The south began to feel marginalized by the north, as they were exploiting the oil and natural resources in the south and using it to mostly invest in Sana'a. South Yemen's Southern Movement for independence rose in 2007; they felt the northern centralized government was corrupted, and they did not have enough authority to manage their abundant resources. As for the Houthis, they had fought six wars with the central government between 2004 and 2010. The Houthis fought because of marginalization of their community and beliefs, not having enough authority in Houthi-majority regions, and longing for a democratic non-sectarian republic.
Upon discussing how to resolve this complicated war, it is essential to recognize the core problem: numerous religious and regional groups feel marginalized, and they want an inclusive governing system that is not corrupted as well as a stronger economy. Considering this, the first step for coming to a solution is an inclusive peacebuilding process, which requires the participation of women, Yemeni youth, and other marginalized groups such as southerners and religious minorities. Civil society organizations and women leaders in Yemen have contributed greatly to peacemaking already. For example, in tribal areas, women have been leading in mediation efforts because they are well respected and trusted in their communities. Yemeni women have previously demanded change and achieved 30 percent representation in the National Dialogue, which was a 2014 Yemeni transitional dialogue discussing peacekeeping. Muna Luqman, a Yemeni woman leader among many, spoke before a UN Security Council meeting, demanding that women be at the forefront of peace talks. She has consulted the only woman in the Government delegation, Rana Ghanem, for peace consultations, who agrees that there must be more seats for women. Luqman has additionally communicated with Houthi women, who have stated that they are ready for peace negotiations. Lastly, the Women Solidarity Network has been filling gaps left by the state, helping displaced people with food and other necessities, diverting the youth from fighting to peacebuilding, arbitrating for the release of detainees, and resolving conflicts over water and land resources. Though Yemeni women bear the brunt of the war, they are the largest hope for peacekeeping because they are trusted among their communities.
In addition to this, the UN must act more firmly to mediate peace negotiations and halt armed violence. The UN must take part in mediating peace negotiations between all parties, not just the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition air bombardment campaign. This especially points to the Southern Transition Council, as they are also actors in the war. To avoid more conflict, it is essential to hear the voices of each group that is involved. The UN must create means to enforce its resolutions, including that of disarmament and demobilization of the Houthis and opening naval, aerial, and land blockades. The UN must also demand the demilitarization of liberated cities and aid in restoring essential government institutions such as the social welfare fund. Additionally, it should bring international actors, such as the Saudi-led coalition, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, the U.S., and the U.K. to hold discussions and to mitigate more violence. Though international actors such as Saudi Arabia claim to be air striking Yemen to place the former government back in Yemen, Saudi Arabia seeks to defeat Iran by defeating the Houthis. This issue must be discussed and addressed in the UN Security Council, and there must be negotiations between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis for a cease-fire. It is a crucial time now, as Saudi Arabia wants to back out because of economic downturns and the coronavirus pandemic.
Lastly, the UN must localize the peace process by creating local peace agreements in areas of military conflict, and additionally must get rid of combatants in civilian and city institutions. This has already been proved to help; local communities such as local councils, social leaders, and civil society have arbitrated between armed groups and created local ceasefire agreements. In order for the UN to localize and promote inclusivity in the peace process, each negotiating actor should have 50 percent women in their delegations, and the UN Special envoy and the Chair of Redeployment Coordination Committee must communicate regularly with women and require the inclusion of women, the youth, southerners, and other marginalized social groups in legal texts. Making each actor's voices heard will help cement a long-lasting solution to prevent future uprisings and violence.
If the war comes to a resolution, the next step is to unify the country by rebuilding the state. To implement an inclusive governing system, Yemen should transition to a decentralized federation. In a federation, the central government would not have much overriding power over the governorates. Each governorate would have a higher degree of autonomy and will get to control more of their internal affairs. For example, a governor should not be appointed by the president, rather through local elections. For local elections to be efficient, they must be supplied with sufficient infrastructural resources by the central government. In addition, to prevent the overpowering of the central government, the constitution must be well-written by all parties to ensure that the central government cannot use broad statements to excuse its over-bearing interference and exploitation of governorates. This will address the issues raised by the Houthis, who want more voice in Houthi-majority governorates, and southerners, who want more authority over their resources as well. Because each governorate would have greater control, there would be less marginalization and exploitation of different regional and religious groups, and there would be a boost of participatory democracy. This is essential, as Yemen has been a historically tribal society, with multiple ethnicities, religions, and communities.
The central government must be anti-corruption and be represented by all groups. Corruption creates distrust of the government, which could lead to more protest and violent conflict. To combat anti-corruption within the central government, there must be several key players, including a coalition of politicians, civil society organizations, senior government officials and private businesses. This coalition can mitigate corruption problems, especially when it comes to the central government abusing its power and not integrating revenues into all governorates to invest in Yemeni communities and create stronger infrastructure and economic opportunity. The central government must also be responsible for rebuilding damaged infrastructure, especially the sewage and electrical systems, roads, and buildings for medical facilities, government, and other essential purposes.
Strong local governance is an essential key to Yemen's government system. The absence of local authorities and councils negatively affect the governorate's leadership, as well as the representation of civil society organizations. Governorate Hadramawt is a good example of the importance of local authorities. Local authority in the governorate Hadramawt brought about local culture and social awareness that prohibited this community from getting involved in the war. The reason for this is that the governorate had communicated with all political, social, and religious figures in the community. Hadramawt is currently creating an advisory council for the governor, which consists of the political, social, and intellectual leaders. This advisory council would hold repeated discussions on issues in the governorate and how to solve them. Hadramawt is a strong example for why local authority is important, and this must be a framework followed by other governorates. Local councils maintain the social fabric of Yemeni communities and keep them stable and secure, therefore they must be preserved and strengthened to give Yemenis voices in their communities.
Moving forward, local councils must have political rights for elections, and local councils must have some autonomy to not be dissolved by the central government or be misused to benefit the central government. To strengthen local governance, it must have the power to manage and develop local resources, provide public services such as medical facilities and schools, and create jobs for the youth. Local authorities must have the power to manage development and construction projects and manage local resources that meet the governorates expectations of development and public services. The local authorities must be able to grant licenses to industrial, trade, services, and investment companies. Local governance must invest in schools, as education is a fundamental factor in elevating the citizens in terms of economic class, decreasing inequality between boys and girls in education, creating human capital, and eventually allowing for educated citizens to improve technologies for infrastructure and industries.
To begin reforming the economy, Yemen must find a way to generate revenue. One way is to improve the agricultural sector and move away from dependency on food imports. To improve the agricultural sector, the central government must invest and develop a functional irrigation system, which has been weak due to insufficient water and land resources. Despite this, Yemen can take advantage of its diverse climate to produce different agricultural products throughout the year, and implement more terraced agriculture infrastructure, which has worked in the past. The private sector must be incentivized to produce more agriculture and sustain limited resources. There also needs to be the implementation of policies that give tools for large and small farmers, such as the agricultural techniques and education, a good irrigation system, marketing opportunities, business practices, agricultural mechanization, fertilizers, and management of crop and yield.
Before the civil war and currently, Yemen has had a weak production base and insufficient economic diversification. Therefore, aside from the agriculture and petroleum sector, there must be other high productivity sectors in Yemen. This includes the fisheries sector, the food industry, the construction industry, and other industries such as tobacco products, cement, and metals. For example, Yemen can improve its fishery sector due to its advantageous geographic location. Yemen has a 15,534-mile-long coastal strip that spans across the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden, and the Arabian Sea. This provides enough diverse aquatic life to sustain Yemen's fishery sector. The central government must invest in this promising sector by providing sufficient infrastructure and tools for fishers. This is essential because this will tackle part of Yemen's dependency on outside food sources and massive unemployment.
Another product that could potentially be used to export is qat, a plant that contains a stimulant that many people enjoy chewing. Though Yemen has had issues with qat addiction and replacing other agricultural production with qat production, it can still be used for an advantage in exports. If there is government regulation on the amount of qat being produced, qat can be a small potential industry that can help with exports for Yemen. Lastly, Yemen has historically exported coffee to numerous countries and can revive this past triumph by using fertile lands throughout Yemen. Yemen has sufficient land for cultivating coffee beans and can use this as an advantage for exporting and generating revenue. Traders can buy coffee from farmers and sell them among international businesses, which they have done before. Other sufficient foods that can be planted are almonds and vegetables, which are great for the economy and the people. Of course, this is only a small amount of what Yemen can expand with sufficient infrastructure.
Outside assistance is needed in Yemen to jump start Yemen’s economy again. Donor assistance in long-term development projects is what will help rebuild the economy. When Yemen’s political leadership is stable and there is an established government, international organizations must reopen their offices in Yemen. The World Bank must re-open the 32 development assistance projects they were working on before the war, as they were worth over 500 million US dollars over many sectors. In addition, organizations such as USAID must re-establish their aid relief programs when it is safe. The World Bank’s Damage Need Assessment calculated that Yemen needs post-conflict rehabilitation projects, and the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation calculated that Yemen needs at least 100 billion US dollars to reconstruct Yemen. Yemen cannot rebuild by itself, as its economy is damaged and collapsed. There must be external assistance to redevelop Yemen to have a starting point to drive its economy upwards.
In conclusion, the most important aspect of Yemen's development is firstly coming to a stable political solution, which can be helped by an inclusive peace building process. It is only after this war is resolved, and all internal tensions are resolved, that Yemen can begin reconstructing all aspects of its country by decentralizing the government, promoting economic diversification and development, and strengthening local governance. This will take decades, but it can be done if the process leading to development is inclusive, since Yemen is very tribal, ethnically diverse, religiously diverse, culturally diverse, and regionally diverse. For this reason, the only way the country can rise up is if everyone has a voice and is there to pull it up together.